Bijou to Spotlight Joe Gage ‘Road’ Trilogy

CHICAGO—Bijou Theater’s continuing Spotlight Series that examines classics of gay adult cinema and their role in the larger culture will focus on the works of Joe Gage in November. Three of Gage’s “road” movies have been selected for screening Nov. 9-11: Kansas City Trucking Company, El Paso Wrecking Corp and L.A. Tool & Die.

“If nothing more, these films brought together most of the biggest names in gay porn of the time: Fred Halsted, Casey Donovan, Bob Blount, Will Seagers and Paul Baressi, to name a few,” a theater spokesman said. “Starring in all three films is none other that gay porn’s first ‘daddy,’ Richard Locke.

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Beyond the pool of talent, the films set several standards in storytelling, camerawork, editing and homoerotica that few have surpassed.”

Shot over four years in the mid- to late-1970s, Gage’s trilogy takes the viewer along Locke’s journey across the plains to the Southwest and eventually to California. The men of Gage’s films are horny archetypes of masculinity: hairy, mustached, blue-collar characters who fuck with wild abandon. In an era prior to deadly epidemics and political conservatism which arrived in the ’80s, the three films remain a testament to the burgeoning gay consciousness and sexual revolution of the time.

Kansas City Trucking Company (1976) will be screened on Monday, followed by 1977’s El Paso Wrecking Corp on Tuesday and 1979’s L.A. Tool & Die on Wednesday. Screenings begin at 8 p.m. each night with a short introduction about Gage and remarks about that night’s film. The mini-festival marks the first screening of all three films together at the Bijou Theater, making it possible for the public to view them on a big screen as they were intended to be presented.

The Bijou Theater offers a Spotlight Series ticket for $22, allowing holders to visit all three nights. Attendees are welcome to remain after the screening for the other films showing that day.

For more information about the theater and its offerings, call the box office at (312) 943-5425 or visit BijouWorld.com.